What The Hell Did James Gunn Say About Past Batmans?!?!

Does James Gunn like any version of Batman? New DC Entertainment CEO James Gunn is under fire once again for old comments he made about the past versions of Batman and the legendary movies of DC.

I know these are old comments, but he’s pretty much discrediting every single iteration of the character.

Despite being the new CEO of DC and proclaiming his adoration for the brand in his many, many interviews as the new supreme leader of all creative decisions, James Gunn is coming under fire from DC and Batman fans as his disparaging, dismissive, and a little condescending comments about the legendary movie iterations of the character have come to light. And, even though I fully support his right to say his opinions and the fact he can have minority views of the legendary Batman portrayals, these are slightly concerning over how he views the Caped Crusader in his universe.

So, for those who haven’t seen some of the news around James Gunn, DC, and Batman, the famed director and now head of DC Entertainment said in the past that the Tim Burton and Michael Keaton Batman had a “ridiculous voice”, the movie had “horrible action sequences”, “horrible acting” (remember, Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Divito, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, and Christopher Walken all stared in Burton’s two films), “campy”, “poorly written”, “worst soundtrack of all Batman movies”, and “fu*k everyone involved in that travesty (referring to the Burton Batman movies)”.

And, as for the Nolan movies, for which only two came out (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) at the time of Gunn’s comments, he said that “neither one of them (the movies) are a classic” and that he doesn’t “even think Batman Begins is good”. Whew, what a rant those comments are.

Now, to give Gunn the benefit of the doubt, there’s almost no chance he REALLY thinks these thoughts about the Burton and Nolan Batman movies as these comments came out a good 12 years ago or more (The Dark Knight Rises hadn’t even been released yet and that movie is now 11 years old) and Gunn was definitely being edgy beyond belief. Maybe he still agrees with these opinions now, but it’s got to be to a lesser extent.

Right?

I mean, just to even utter that The Dark Knight isn’t a classic Batman movie, let alone being the single greatest superhero movie of all time (which it still is), or that Tim Burton and Michael Keaton’s Batman movies were “travesties” to cinema is such an asinine, dumbass statement to make.

To defend Burton and Keaton first, those two movies (Batman-1989 and Batman Returns-1992) were the very first movies to bring the classic, traditional “darker” edge to the Caped Crusader and also treated Batman as the force of Vengeance and Justice that we all love and know today. The only other adaptation of Batman was the 1960’s Adam West Batman T.V. show…which ACTUALLY was campy if you want to throw that word around.

Was the Burton movies over-the-top? Yes. Did the Burton movies take a fantastical approach to Batman, Catwoman, The Joker, The Penguin, Gotham City, and the entire world/ethos of Batman as a whole? Most definitely. Would the action sets, sequences, and costume designs be outdated and “primitive” by today’s standards? Somewhat, though the comic adaptation field of entertainment has taken a drastic decline from where it was just a decade ago.

Nevertheless, the stylistic choices behind the movies may not be to Gunn’s liking (which is strange as he takes HEAVY inspiration from Burton’s fantastical, outlandish approach to filmmaking in all of his own projects), but to claim that they are “horrible”, “poorly written”, had “the worst soundtrack of all Batman movies”, or are a “travesty” couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Burton-Keaton Batman duology are actual pinnacles of filmmaking in my opinion (along with many others) as they were able to successfully and masterfully adapt the super-heroic, supernatural, and fantastical elements in the DC comics onto the big screen in a way that not only earned multiple Academy Award nominations and wins (for Visual Effects, Makeup Design, and Set/Art Decoration), Golden Globe nominations (Jack Nicholson for The Joker), multiple BAFTA nominations (Jack Nicholson for The Joker, Costume Design, Make Up Design, Production Design, Sound Score, Visual Effects), but they did so in a way that has enamored and influenced the superhero genre and fans for the last 40 years.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad, or Peacemaker will have that same effect.

And, as for the Nolan movies, do I need to say anything more than that they not only are the greatest trilogy of superhero movies of all time, but they also contain the single greatest superhero film (The Dark Knight), the greatest depiction of Batman (Christian Bale’s Batman), the greatest depiction of Alfred (Michael Caine), the greatest depiction of Jim Gordon (Gary Olderman), the greatest depiction of Two Face (Aaron Eckhart) the arguably greatest depiction of Catwoman (Anne Hathaway, but I’m still going with Michelle Pfeiffer),  the greatest depiction of The Joker (Heath Ledger) that there will ever be.

And, of course, all of the first-time live action characters that were featured in this movie, such as Bane, Ra’s al Ghul, Talia al Ghul, Lucius Fox, Scarecrow, Carmine Falcone, etc., were all fantastically portrayed by their actors. Oh, and all of the sets, stunts, dramatic scenes, etc. were so brilliantly portrayed that I don’t even feel the need to explain why as it’s just self-evident these are the greatest superhero movies ever!

So, as I wrote a little bit towards the beginning, I get that these are old comments that are edgy by nature from James Gunn, but it’s still a little concerning how the guy who now heads up DC and is in complete creative control over Batman has these silly opinions about the two best Batman depictions ever.

But, since James Gunn is the guy who said that The Flash is one of the best superhero movies he’s ever seen, I’m taking his opinion on these movies with a MASSIVE grain of salt, and I just hope he doesn’t screw up his DC Universe as I’m losing more faith by the day in his abilities.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros./DC) (Batman (1989) | Modern Trailer Recut | DC – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros./DC) (Batman (1989) | Modern Trailer Recut | DC – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Warner Bros./DC) (The Dark Knight (Trailer) – YouTube)